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Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd (; 8 September 1901 – 6 September 1966), also known as H. F. Verwoerd, was a Dutch-born South African politician, academic, and newspaper editor who served as Prime Minister of South Africa from 1958 until his assassination in 1966.
He is commonly regarded as the architect of apartheid and nicknamed the "father of apartheid". Verwoerd played a significant role in socially engineering apartheid—the country's system of institutionalized racial segregation and white supremacy—and implementing its policies as Minister of Native Affairs (1950–1958) and later as prime minister (1958–1966). Verwoerd was instrumental in helping the far-right National Party come to power in 1948, serving as its political strategist and Propaganda, and he became party leader when he was elected prime minister. He was the Union of South Africa's last prime minister; in 1961 he proclaimed the founding of the South Africa and remained its prime minister until his assassination.
Verwoerd was an Authoritarianism, socially conservative leader and an Afrikaner nationalist. He was a member of the Afrikaner Broederbond (), a secret white and Calvinism organization dedicated to advancing Afrikaner interests. During World War II, he protested against South Africa's declaration of war on Nazi Germany. Following the Nationalist electoral victory in 1948, Verwoerd held senior government positions and wielded strong influence over South African society.
As prime minister, Verwoerd's desire to ensure white, and especially Afrikaner, dominance was a primary reason for his support of a republic. To justify apartheid to international audiences, he claimed it was a policy of "good-neighbourliness", arguing that because different races and cultures have different beliefs and values, they could only reach their full potential by living and developing apart from each other. He stated that the white minority had to be protected from the non-white majority by pursuing a "policy of separate development" and keeping power in the hands of whites. Apartheid resulted in the complete disfranchisement of the non-white population.
During his premiership, Verwoerd heavily repressed opposition to apartheid. He ordered the detention and imprisonment of tens of thousands of people and the exile of thousands more, while greatly empowering, modernizing, and enlarging the security forces of the white apartheid state. He banned black organizations such as the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress; under his leadership, future president Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for life for sabotage. "Obituary: Long-jailed assassin of South African premier", The Guardian, 11 October 1999. Retrieved 8 July 2009. Verwoerd's South Africa had one of the world's highest prison populations and saw a large number of executions and floggings. By the mid-1960s, his government had, to a large degree, suppressed internal civil resistance to apartheid by using extraordinary legislative power, draconian laws, psychological intimidation, and the relentless efforts of the state's security apparatus.
Although apartheid began in 1948 under D. F. Malan, Verwoerd's role in expanding and legally entrenching the system, including his theoretical justifications and opposition to the limited form of integration known as baasskap, have led to his description as the "Architect of Apartheid". His actions prompted the passage of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1761, which condemned apartheid and ultimately led to South Africa's international isolation and economic sanctions. On 6 September 1966, Verwoerd was stabbed several times by parliamentary messenger Dimitri Tsafendas. He died shortly after, and Tsafendas was jailed until his death in 1999.
Verwoerd attended a Lutheran primary school in Wynberg, Cape Town. By the end of 1912, the family moved to Bulawayo, Rhodesia, where his father became an assistant evangelist in the Dutch Reformed Church. Verwoerd attended Milton High School, where he won the Alfred Beit Scholarship and achieved the highest marks in English literature in Rhodesia.
In 1917, the family returned to South Africa. Due to the worldwide Spanish flu epidemic that postponed examinations, Verwoerd wrote his matriculation exams in February 1919, placing first in the Orange Free State and fifth in the country.
Verwoerd studied at Stellenbosch University, where he was regarded as a gifted academic with a reputed photographic memory. Fluent in Afrikaans, Dutch, English, and German, he obtained his BA with distinctions, his MA cum laude, and his Doctorate in Psychology cum laude in 1925. His over-300-page doctoral thesis was titled "Die Afstomping van die Gemoedsaandoeninge" (The Blunting of the Emotions).
Verwoerd was offered a prestigious Abe Bailey scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, but declined it in favour of studying in Germany, for which he used a smaller Croll & Gray scholarship. From 1926 to 1927, he studied at the universities of Leipzig under Felix Krueger, Hamburg under William Stern, and Berlin under Wolfgang Köhler and Otto Lipmann. Most of these professors were later barred from teaching by the Nazi regime after 1933. Claims that Verwoerd studied eugenics or was influenced by Nazi ideology are not supported by archival evidence. According to scholar Christoph Marx, Verwoerd "kept conspicuous distance from eugenic doctrines, stressing environmental over hereditary factors." Another historian, Roberta Balstad Miller, found "no archival proof" that his thinking was shaped by Fichtean nationalism.
Verwoerd's fiancée, Betsie Schoombie, joined him in Germany, and they were married in Hamburg on 7 January 1927. He then toured the United States before returning to South Africa. His lecture memoranda from this period stressed that there were "no innate mental difference between major races," and scholars suggest his later segregationist views were influenced more by the American "separate but equal" doctrine than by European ideologies.
From 1910 to 1948, Afrikaans politics were divided between "liberals" such as Jan Smuts, who argued for reconciliation with Britain, and "extremists" who expressed anti-British sentiments due to the Boer War.Brogan, Patrick (1989). The Fighting Never Stopped. Vintage Books. p. 87. Both factions believed that South Africa was a "white man's country", though the latter were more stridently committed to white supremacy. Verwoerd belonged to the anti-British faction, which sought to maintain as much distance as possible from Britain.
In 1936, Verwoerd led a deputation of six Stellenbosch professors that petitioned the cabinet to oppose the immigration of German Jews fleeing Nazi persecution, specifically a group of 500 refugees aboard the ship S.S. Stuttgart. His efforts in national welfare drew him into politics, and in 1936 he was offered the first editorship of Die Transvaler. He took up the position in 1937, with the added responsibility of helping to rebuild the National Party in the Transvaal.
Die Transvaler was a publication that supported the aspirations of Afrikaner nationalism, agricultural rights, and labour rights. Combining republicanism, populism, and protectionism, the paper helped "solidify the sentiments of most South Africans, that changes to the socio-economic system were vitally needed." With the start of the Second World War in September 1939, Verwoerd protested against South Africa's role in the conflict when the country declared war on Germany, siding with its former colonial power, the United Kingdom.
In 1943, Verwoerd, as editor of Die Transvaler, sued the English-language newspaper The Star for libel after it accused him of being a Nazi propagandist. In his judgment dismissing the case, Justice Mallin stated that Verwoerd "did support Nazi propaganda, he did make his paper a tool of Nazis in South Africa, and he knew it" (cited by Scheub 2010, 42; Bunting 1964, 106–107). Die Transvaler had headlined every Nazi victory and constantly attacked "British Jewish liberalism."
Running on a platform of self-determination and apartheid, Prime Minister Daniel Malan and his party benefited from their support in rural electorates, defeating General Jan Christiaan Smuts and his United Party. Smuts lost his own seat of Standerton. Most party leaders agreed that the nationalist policies were responsible for the National Party's victory. To further cement these policies, HNP leader Daniel Malan called for stricter enforcement of job reservation to protect the white working class and the right of white workers to organise their own labour unions outside of company control.
Verwoerd was elected to the Senate of South Africa later that year. In October 1950, he became the minister of native affairs under Prime Minister Malan, a post he held until his appointment as prime minister in 1958. In that position, he helped to implement the Nationalist Party's programme. According to scholar Ivan Evans, Verwoerd immediately began a "crusading political bureaucracy" that abolished decentralized administration and replaced it with a highly centralized structure within the Department of Native Affairs. Between 1950 and 1953, he drafted thirty-two bills related to Native Affairs, more than had been introduced in the previous two decades. In a 1950 speech, Verwoerd described his policy of "separate development" as a "policy of justice to all… a way to grant survival and full development to each racial group".
Among the laws that were drawn and enacted during Verwoerd's time as minister for native affairs were the Population Registration Act and the Group Areas Act in 1950, the Pass Laws Act of 1952 and the Reservation of Separate Amenities Act of 1953. Verwoerd wrote the Bantu Education Act of 1953 (Act 47 of 1953), which transferred all "native education" to the control of the Minister of Native Affairs, effective from 1 January 1954. In a Senate speech on 7 June 1954, Verwoerd explained his rationale for the law, stating: "There is no place for the in the European community above the level of certain forms of labour…"
The Bantu Education Act ensured that black South Africans had only the barest minimum of education, thus entrenching the role of blacks in the apartheid economy as a cheap source of unskilled labour.
One black South African woman who worked as an anti-apartheid activist, Nomavenda Mathiane, in particular criticized Verwoerd for the Bantu Education Act of 1953, which caused generations of black South Africans to suffer an inferior education, saying: "After white people had taken the land, after white people had impoverished us in South Africa, the only way out of our poverty was through education. And he came up with the idea of giving us an inferior education."
Verwoerd gradually gained popularity with the Afrikaner electorate and continued to expand his political support. The National Party secured 103 of 156 seats, with 55% of the popular vote, in the general election of 16 April 1958. When Prime Minister J. G. Strijdom died on 24 August 1958, Verwoerd was a leading candidate to succeed him. In a tripartite contest against C. R. Swart and Eben Dönges, Verwoerd prevailed in the National Party caucus and was elected leader. He took the oath of office as the sixth prime minister of South Africa on 2 September 1958.
When the NP came to power in 1948, there were factional differences in the party regarding the implementation of systemic racial segregation. The larger baasskap faction favoured segregation but also supported the participation of black Africans in the economy, as long as black labour could be controlled to advance the economic interests of Afrikaners. A second faction consisted of the "purists", who believed in "vertical segregation", under which black and white people would be entirely separated. Black people would live in native reserves with separate political and economic structures, which, they believed, would entail severe short-term pain but would also lead to the independence of white South Africa from black labour in the long term. Verwoerd belonged to a third faction that sympathised with the purists but allowed for the use of black labour while implementing the purist goal of vertical separation.
Verwoerd's vision of a South Africa divided into multiple ethno-states appealed to the reform-minded Afrikaner intelligentsia. It provided a more coherent philosophical and moral framework for the National Party's racist policies, while also giving a veneer of intellectual respectability to the cruder policy of baasskap. Verwoerd felt that the political situation in South Africa had become stagnant over the past century and called for reform. Encyclopædia Britannica 1963, p. 354.
Under Verwoerd's premiership, the following legislative acts relating to apartheid were introduced:
In an address to both Houses of Parliament, Macmillan gave his famous Winds of Change speech. The speech, which implicitly criticized apartheid, together with worldwide criticism following the Sharpeville massacre, created a siege mentality in South Africa. Verwoerd seized upon this to bolster his case for a republic, presenting Elizabeth II as the ruler of a hostile power.Brogan, Patrick (1989). The Fighting Never Stopped Vintage Books. p. 88.
Verwoerd also ensured that South African media gave extensive coverage to the breakdown of society in the Congo following its independence from Belgium in the summer of 1960, presenting it as an example of the "horrors" that would allegedly ensue in South Africa if apartheid ended. He linked the situation in the Congo to criticism of apartheid in Britain, arguing the Congolese "horrors" were what the British government intended to inflict on white South Africans, thereby fanning the flames of Anglophobia.Brogan, Patrick (1989). The Fighting Never Stopped Vintage Books. p. 92
The referendum on 5 October 1960 asked white voters, "Are you in favour of a Republic for the Union?". It passed with 52 percent of the vote. In order to bolster support for a republic, the voting age for whites was lowered from 21 to 18, benefiting younger Afrikaans speakers, who were more likely to favour a republic, and the franchise was extended to whites in South-West Africa, most of whom were German or Afrikaans speakers.
In March 1961, at the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference in London, Verwoerd abandoned an attempt for South Africa to become a republic within the Commonwealth. A resolution jointly sponsored by Jawaharlal Nehru of India and John Diefenbaker of Canada declared that racism was incompatible with Commonwealth membership. After the resolution was accepted, Verwoerd withdrew South Africa's application to remain in the organization "in the interests of honour and dignity," storming out of the conference. For many white South Africans, especially those of British extraction, leaving the Commonwealth imposed a psychological sense of isolation. The Republic of South Africa came into existence on 31 May 1961, the anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging. The last Governor-General, Charles Robberts Swart, took office as the first State President. Verwoerd's new cabinet, announced on 8 October 1961, included John Vorster as Minister of Justice and Nicolaas Diederichs as Minister of Finance.
After South Africa became a republic, Verwoerd refused to accept black ambassadors from Commonwealth member states.Anthony Sampson, "His Cherubic Smile Seemed To Say, 'It's All So Simple". Life International, 3 October 1966 Verwoerd's overt moves to block non-whites from representing South Africa in sports—starting with cricket—triggered the international movement to ostracise South Africa from sporting competition. The 1960 Games were the last Olympics in which the country participated until the abolition of apartheid. South Africa was expelled from FIFA in 1976, and whenever South African teams participated in sports, they were met with protests and disruptions. When supporters of South Africa decried its exclusion, the common response was: "Who started it?", in reference to Verwoerd.
Colonel G. M. Harrison, president of the Witwatersrand Agricultural Society, leapt up and knocked the pistol from the gunman's hand. He was taken to the Marshall Square police station. Within minutes of the attempt, Verwoerd was rushed to the nearby Johannesburg Hospital. The neurologists who treated Verwoerd later stated that his escape had been 'absolutely miraculous'.Allan Bird, Bird on a wing, 205 (1992). He returned to public life on 29 May, less than two months after the shooting.
David Pratt was initially held under the emergency regulations, declared on 30 March 1960, nine days after the Sharpeville massacre and shortly after Verwoerd received a death threat."Verwoerd knew of threats but did not withdraw." The Star, 11 April 1960. Pratt appeared for a preliminary hearing in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court on 20 and 21 July 1960."Aanslag: Nuwe stap met gearresteerde. Aangehou kragtens noodmaatreëls. Was nie in hof." Die Transvaler, 11 April 1960; "No news of Pratt in court." The Star, 11 April 1960; "Verwoerd saved from ordeal at the Pratt inquiry – 8 subpoenaed." Sunday Times, 10 July 1960. Pratt claimed that he had been shooting 'the epitome of apartheid' but stated in his defence that he had only intended to injure, not kill, Verwoerd. On 26 September 1960, he was committed to a mental hospital in Bloemfontein after the court accepted that he lacked legal capacity. On 1 October 1961, he committed suicide.I. Maisels, A life at law: The memoirs of I.A. Maisels, QC., 102–107 (1998).
From 1964, the US and UK discontinued their arms trade with South Africa.Johnson, Shaun (1989). South Africa: no turning back. Indiana University Press. p. 323. Economic sanctions against South Africa were also frequently debated in the UN as an effective way of putting pressure on the apartheid government. In 1962, the UN General Assembly requested that its members sever political, fiscal, and transportation ties with South Africa.Jackson, Peter; Faupin, Mathieu (2007). The Long Road to Durban – The United Nations Role in Fighting Racism and Racial Discrimination. UN Chronicle.
Four members of Parliament who were also trained doctors rushed to Verwoerd's aid and began administering cardiopulmonary resuscitation.Havens, Murray Clark; Leiden, Carl; Schmitt, Karl Michael (1970). The politics of assassination. Prentice-Hall. p. 47. Verwoerd was rushed to Groote Schuur Hospital, but was pronounced dead upon arrival.
At the same time, the South African police gathered a plethora of evidence of Tsafendas's long history of political activism. Nevertheless, none of these became known during a summary trial where Tsafendas escaped the death penalty on the grounds of insanity. Judge Andrew Beyers ordered Tsafendas to be imprisoned indefinitely at the "State President's pleasure"; in 1999 he died aged 81 still in detention. A 2018 scholarly report submitted to the South African Minister of Justice, compiled by Harris Dousemetzis, concluded after a nine-year investigation that Tsafendas acted from a political motive and was not insane, contradicting the findings of the 1966 inquest.
On the 50th anniversary of Verwoerd's assassination in 2016, some in South Africa argued that Tsafendas should be regarded as an anti-apartheid hero.
Many major roads, places, and facilities in South African cities and towns were named after Verwoerd. In post-apartheid South Africa, there has been a campaign to take down statues of Verwoerd and rename streets and infrastructure named after him. Famous examples include H. F. Verwoerd Airport in Port Elizabeth, renamed Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport; the Verwoerd Dam in the Free State, now the Gariep Dam; H. F. Verwoerd Academic Hospital in Pretoria, now Steve Biko Academic Hospital; and the town of Verwoerdburg, now Centurion.
Journalist Daniel A. Gross has argued that focusing on Verwoerd as the "architect of apartheid" is too convenient, as it allows the injustices of apartheid to be blamed on a single individual. Gross stated this view risks excusing the many other people who were involved in creating and maintaining the system.
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